1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an animal litter in which a liquid absorbent aggregate acts as a carrier of an agent for detecting urinary infection in felines and other related species.
2. Brief Description of Related Art
Because of the growing number of domestic animals, particularly felines, used as house pets, there is an increasing need for a simple means to inform the pet owner of the presence of urinary infections so that curative steps can be taken to avoid serious illness in the animal.
To the extent I am aware, the only procedure available today for detecting urinary infection in felines is to take the animal to a veterinarian who makes an appropriate test. The test usually involves the taking of a urine sample and testing it for the presence of infection. Felines are not always cooperative in the sample gathering procedure and therefore there is a need for a simple technique for determining the presence of urinary infection that avoids the need for obtaining urine samples.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an animal litter that is impregnated with an agent for indicating the presence of infection.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an animal litter containing an agent sensitive to the alkalinity of feline urine to indicate a measure of urinary infection.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an animal litter that enables a pet owner to immediately determine the presence of a urinary infection without the need to take the animal to a veterinarian.
According to the present invention there is provided an animal litter comprised of a pH neutral or near neutral liquid absorbent aggregate that has been treated with an agent to visually indicate the presence of urinary infection in felines. The presence and the degree of infection is represented by the degree of alkalinity of the urine. Thus by impregnating the litter with a litmus-like material, such for example as sodium phenolsulfonephthalein, a pet owner can, by observing the coloration of clumped litter containing the urine, immediately determine whether or not the pet has a urinary infection. If so, the pet may then be taken to a veterinarian for treatment.
The litmus material is available from Merck under such names as Phenol Red, Sodium Gold or Reagent ACS Indicator. The litmus material, available in granule form may be finely ground into a powder and well mixed with the liquid absorbent aggregate to coat the surfaces of the aggregate granules. Preferably the litmus granules are melted at temperatures about 212 Degrees F to form a liquid which is sprayed upon the aggregate.
The preferred litter is that described and claimed in co-pending application Ser. No. filed Jul. 11, 1996 for Animal Control Litter.